Wooooo chapter 50! I didn't think I'd ever get this far, especially as I still have more to write. The next chapter will be posted tomorrow or later, as I have written half of the next chapter already - but after that, there is a three month gap, so there's still some stuff to write which might take a bit longer. I hope I'll finish this story before July though - it would have been a whole year writing it!
And yes, another cliffhanger. Have fun.
It is already getting dark as he follows Kiara out of the building, along one street, until she turns left into a small alley once more. Looking inside it, he can't see her, but she must have gone along here, so he walks around the next corner. Big mistake.
He kept his gun in his holster, being pretty sure that he could defeat this girl. He didn't expect to have a gun in his face, barely five centimetres away from the bridge of his nose. Swallowing once, he changes his focus to Kiara, who is holding the gun with a perfectly steady hand, and slowly raises his hands.
"Hello Mr DI. It's been, what, two and a half years? Nearly same situation, similar place... I am having a strong feeling of deja-vu." Her voice is light, teasing, but not in a bad way.
He only frowns slightly, but doesn't do anything else, besides thinking very quickly. Why is she doing this? Why did she clearly show him that she wasn't supposed to be leaving NSY?
"You can speak, you know. If I wanted you dead, you would have been the moment I shot at that crime-scene. Don't do anything stupid, though, I might change my mind." Her voice is still kind, despite the thinly hidden threat.
"Why are you doing this?" The detective inspector asks, careful not to move.
"You will find out soon enough – until then, because I wanted to." Her voice is serious now, and slightly sad, and Lestrade can hear that she means it.
"Now – walk backwards, I'll help you. Don't do anything stupid." She walks around him now, and he slowly turns. She motions with his gun where to go, and he obeys. What else should he do? If she really wanted him dead, he knows, there is nothing he can do to stop her right now.
After five minutes of walking, she stops and so does he. He can hear the big street again, it must be just around the corner, but Kiara doesn't look bothered. She points at a rain drain of a house in a corner with her free hand and looks at him.
"Give me your gun. Then, give me the keys to your hand-cuffs and cuff yourself to the pipe. Sit down beforehand." Her instructions are calm and cold, and slowly he does as told.
She crouches down as well, and checks the cuffs. To her surprise, he did it correctly, and quite tightly, so it would be almost impossible to get out of them.
"I'm not stupid, you know. It was clear you'd check them, so why resist the inevitable?" Lestrade says drily.
He looks at her to see her first real, genuine smile.
"I wish everybody was as reasonable as you," She answers, and puts her gun down.
"Even though – you couldn't just have worn a tie, could you?" she asks with a grin and Lestrade couldn't help but laugh out loud.
"Well, maybe my standards are just to high. Doesn't matter – next time we meet, can you wear a tie, please?" Once again Lestrade has to laugh, and he feels strangely comfortable, even though he is cuffed to a rain drain and completely at the mercy of the daughter of one of the most twisted and most dangerous men that ever lived.
"I'll try. Next time we meet, can you not run away and kidnap me?" It's her turn to laugh now, she looks at him and for a moment she looks truly happy. But then the sadness clouds her eyes just like it before.
She looks away and takes a cloth out of her pocket, tying it over Lestrade's eyes. He can't see her now, everything is black. He can hear her breathing next to him, and while she is doing something unknown, they are both silent for a minute, until she breaks the silence once more, even if she does it a lot different to what the detective expected.
"How do you feel about Sherlock Holmes?" her voice is calm and sounds almost bored, but he can feel his anger rise.
"He was a better man than your father ever was, or you'll ever be. What do you care about him? You and your father got what you wanted, didn't you? Your daddy didn't make it, but everybody has to make sacrifices." He can hear her make a sound, it sounds like a mixture of a sharply indrawn breath and a laugh, and then she replies.
"But you doubted him, didn't you? You arrested him, you believed the media, even though you know how changeable they are." Her voice is almost calm, and that makes him wonder. Is she angry?
"I – I didn't – it was just for a moment, what can I do? Of course I feel guilty now, but I can't change what I have done. Anyway, it was your father who did it!"
She doesn't answer, and he can't hear anything from her, and now he starts to worry.
"Do you plan to just leave me here?" He knows he should not have joked with her before, or provoked her just then, but he just couldn't help it. He is vulnerable right now, defenceless, it's getting darker every minute and he is very clearly a police-officer. This is the perfect situation for every criminal, and he knows this.
Suddenly Kiara speaks very close to his ear.
"If you make a sound, I'll reconsider my decision not to hurt you. I will be close enough to hear you all the time, so don't you dare."
He nods slightly and then hears how she gets up and walks away. The thought of calling out despite her command crosses his mind, but he decides against it. His anger is dying down and his rational mind is taking over again. If it's true what she said, that she would be close the whole time, it would be very unhealthy for him. And somehow he believes her. He doesn't know why, but he feels inclined to trust her to this certain degree, even if his ex-wife would call him stupid.
Five minutes later, he hears footsteps coming towards him, and now he really starts to worry. What if it is someone else? The best solution would be if it was one of his colleagues, as humiliating that might be, but that is so unlikely.
Just as his breathing starts to pick up, Kiara speaks.
"Relax, it's just me. I would say well done, but I expected as much." Her voice is only slightly patronizing, but he can hear the smirk.
Suddenly he hears the sound of a spray-can above his head, the sound is quite unique.
"Not very clever, doing that in front of a police-officer," he attempts to joke, and he can hear Kiara laugh.
"Well, maybe not, but I'd rather do so and make sure you won't be killed." This makes him shut up, and he starts worrying once more. What is it about this girl, whom he should absolutely hate, that makes her so amiable? That makes him enjoy her presence and trust her, even if just barely? As she said herself, she isn't exactly mentally stable.
After a minute, she stops spraying. The detective inspector moves his head to the left and the right, trying to figure out where she is and what she is doing. After a second, he feels her finger on his chest. He can't help but pull back for a second, this is just so strange.
"Don't move," Kiara orders and he stays still. She is drawing something on his chest. It feels like a Roman three and something else, but he isn't sure.
Only a second later he feels the sting of a needle in his upper arm, and the grip of her hand, holding him there. The effects of the fluid start quickly. He feels heavy and numb, but his mind is clear.
"Wh't did y'do?" His voice is slurred, and this scares him even more.
"Wh's go'n 'n?" He knows he must sound like an idiot, but he can't help it, he just feels so helpless.
"It's a drug – nothing bad, don't worry. It will simply paralyse you for about ninety minutes. You won't be able to speak or anything, but that is normal. There are no after-effects, well, no bad ones. Don't worry, you will be found soon." With that, she touches his cheek and leaves.
The drug is fully effective now, and without his sense of sight, all other senses are sharpened. He knows it's useless, but he tries moving, no avail, tries shouting, nothing.
And after a few minutes, he gives up and hopes somebody will come this way for some reason.
By the way, in chapter 48 I mentioned a mistake Kiara made. For those who didn't find it, she called him 'My'.